- The Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) has launched a new project called Project Hope, which aims to create 10,000 jobs for indigent youths, women, and entrepreneurs in the Niger Delta
- The project will create 1,000 jobs in each of the nine Niger Delta states
- The project will provide a database that will streamline the NDDC’s youth development and empowerment programmes
According to the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), its newly launched Project Hope will employ 10,000 indigent youths, women, and entrepreneurs in the Niger Delta.
Dr. Samuel Ogbuku, Managing Director of the NDDC, announced the plan during the project’s launch on Wednesday at the commission’s headquarters in Port Harcourt.
He claimed that the Holistic Opportunity Projects of Engagement, dubbed “Project Hope,” would generate 1,000 jobs in each of the nine Niger Delta states.
Ogbuku said:
Today marks a new dawn for youths of the Niger Delta with the launch of Project Hope that seeks to turn around NDDC’s Youth Development and Empowerment Programme.
We decided to launch this project considering that over the years NDDC has invested lots of funds to impact the lives of youths that cannot be accounted for.
Project Hope aims to provide a database that will streamline our programmes into one platform to engage youths, women and entrepreneurs of the region.
So, this project will create 10,000 jobs with at least 1,000 jobs created in each of the nine Niger Delta States in the areas of agro-allied and Information Technology, among others.
Ogbuku said that once the youths are registered on the database, the platform would enable the commission to know their interests and needs.
He said knowing the preferences of the youths would enable the NDDC to streamline its empowerment programmes to suit their needs.
To this end, we will no longer go about nominating people to benefit from our training programmes as we will only pick from the database.
For example, if we want to train welders, then we will go to the database to pick those whose interest are welding. So, nobody needs to know anybody to benefit.
The database will eliminate political interest in the area of nominations while giving every youth equal opportunity to obtain support from the NDDC and government.
Also, this programme will help eliminate the past practice of youths benefitting in our programmes multiple times. But now, once you’ve been engaged, it will be recorded in our database, he added.
The managing director advised NDDC vendors, who were constantly bringing arbitrary empowerment programmes and proposals to the commission, to enrol in Project Hope.
According to Mrs Winifred Madume, Director of Skills Development and Empowerment, the scheme will provide youth with legitimate means of livelihood based on their educational qualifications, skills, and interests.
According to her, the selection process will be handled transparently to ensure that the commission’s job creation and industrialization goals are met.